The 11 FBS commissioners and Notre Dame athletic director Jack Swarbrick are making progress toward forming a new postseason model, but the process is slow and complicated.

The group concluded meetings in Chicago on Wednesday but no major definitive solutions were reached. The group assembles again June 20 in Chicago and then, Pac-12 commissioner Larry Scott said, will present “options, plural” to the Presidential Oversight Committee on June 26 in Washington, D.C.

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If ranking those options, it might be safe to assume that the four-team playoff scenario is the frontrunner, followed by the plus-one format — a championship game played after the bowl season concludes.

Still as murky as ever is whether participants in a four-team playoff would be the top-four ranked teams or conference champions or maybe three conference champions and an at-large selection. Still unclear is how those four teams would be selected and to what degree strength of schedule will play.

Just as uncertain: If there is a four-team playoff game, will the semifinals be part of the bowl system or will they be separate?

And the giant in the room: How will the playoff revenue, which could rise to an astonishing $400 million, be shared?

“We’ve made excellent progress,” ACC commissioner John Swofford told reporters in Chicago. “There’s still a focus on a four-team playoff, and getting consensus on how that will work.”

SEC commissioner Mike Slive said the group is “reaching consensus slowly but surely.”

And Swarbrick described Wednesday’s gathering as the group’s best yet.

Still, commissioners have told CBSSports.com that there is a real concern that the group will not have settled on the best formats to present after its meeting next week.

The Champions Bowl, conceived by the SEC and the Big 12 to pit their best representatives in a game January 2015, put the plus one model back in play. Plus, there are divisions even within leagues. The Big Ten presidents are said to be in favor of a plus one. Meanwhile, Big Ten commissioner Jim Delany has leaned toward a playoff featuring conference champions.

The BCS’s current bowl game contract with ESPN was signed in 2008. This time around, a BCS television contract could be worth more than $1 billion. With so much at stake — and so much to gain — the commissioners have to get it right, no matter how long it takes or how difficult it is.

In a statement released to the media, BCS officials said:

"We made progress in our meeting today to discuss the future of college football's post-season. We are approaching consensus on many issues and we recognize there are also several issues that require additional conversations at both the commissioner and university president levels.

"We are determined to build upon our successes and create a structure that further grows the sport while protecting the regular season. We also value the bowl tradition and recognize the many benefits it brings to student-athletes. "We have more work to do and more discussions to have with our presidents, who are the parties that will make the final decisions about the future structure of college football's post-season."